While We Were Walking
by Weasley-Gurl
Summary: Hermione and Ron have an interesting conversation


While We Were Walking  
By Weasley-Gurl  
  
  
  
"Hermione?"  
  
Hermione Granger looked up from A Guide To Runes of Ancient Civilizations in Europe and found herself face-to-face with Ronald Weasley. He was grinning madly, and for a moment she frowned and wondered whether she should be scared of this.   
  
"Go on."  
  
Ron's grin widened, and Hermione's frown deepened. The common room was alive with all kinds of chatter, but at that moment, she could not hear anything; she had come to a decision: Ron with that grin was a very frightening thing. And she was petrified.  
  
"Wanna walk?"  
  
"What?" Hermione was now not only frightened, she was also confused.  
  
"Do you want to go for a walk?" Ron said, this time very slowly. "… With me." He added, seeing the look on her face.  
  
"Why would you want to walk right now, Ron? It makes no sense."  
  
"Precisely," he said, grinning yet wider. It looked as though his face might split at any moment.  
  
Hermione was concerned. And confused. And frightened. So she said the first thing that came to mind:  
  
"Alright, then." She stood, setting her book down, and followed Ron out the portrait hole. The halls were lightened by large candelabras and as she ran her hand along the stone walls, she noted that they were unusually warm for October. 'Must be magic,' she thought to herself.  
  
After what seemed like a long while, she and Ron, who had been unusually quiet during their trek down the many stairs, found themselves at the front door. They walked down the steps, onto the lawn, and Hermione suddenly realized that Ron had not spoken a word since they left the common room.   
  
"So, what did you want to talk about?" She ventured, wondering if there was any reason at all why he had asked her to walk.  
  
"Nothing," he said, but then looked around and said, "We used to have a willow at the house. Not one that socked you whenever you came near it, like that Whomping thing- (he said 'whomping' with great distaste). I used to climb it with Fred 'n George. And Ginny always wanted to, but she was too short and used to rip her robes trying to shimmy up the trunk." He smiled, and continued. "She never cried, Ginny. Never let on that she minded at all; just went right on trying to get up there with her brothers. We were pretty cool kids, huh?" His soft smile turned into a wild grin and he looked at Hermione with roguish joy shining in his blue eyes.   
  
Hermione smiled back, and nodded, letting him continue what seemed to be a much-needed conversation for Ron.   
  
"Ginny's still a cool kid. And Fred and George- well, I don't guess they're exactly 'kids' anymore, are they? Being seventeen, and all. But they're cool, all the same.  
  
"Percy was never one of the kids. It's sad, really, I never got to know him like the twins and Ginny. And now he's got a job at the Ministry and I don't imagine he'll ever be one of the kids. Fred and George played with him, I imagine, before I was born. We all had our own playmate. Bill 'n Charlie- they were first, really set the tones for us other kids. Then Perce came along, and Charlie watched after him 'till the twins came, but there were two of them, so Percy was sort of the third wheel. No one can ever really not feel like the third wheel 'round those two. Then came me, and Ginny. And we were together, 'cept it was different for us 'cause she was a girl and I liked to do 'boy things'. You know what I mean?" He looked towards Hermione, though she had the impression he wasn't really seeing her.   
  
"Yes, I have an idea," she said, hoping that he would go on. After the Third Task last year, Ron never really spoke about his family. Hermione just assumed it was because of Harry that he had closed up- she had done the same thing- and she had always imagined that it would be Harry that he re-opened to first.  
  
"You know, I reckon I like kids. Yeah, I like them a lot. We were all real happy when we were younger and- well, I like to see that." He frowned a bit. "I reckon I might like to have one of my own someday." Hermione was a bit shocked at this, but he continued, laughing shortly and loudly. "Of course, that might be impossible, seems destiny that I'll end up with about twenty of 'em. I mean, look at my family." He looked at her and smiled. "It's sort of funny, huh? Talking about kids when I'm only fifteen. And I'm going to need a girl." His eyes widened, as though suddenly realizing just who he was saying all this to and his ears blushed the darkest of pinks. He coughed loudly, and Hermione suddenly felt like laughing.   
  
"Go on," she said, "You were talking about kids."  
  
"Yeah," he said faintly, "Kids. So what about you?"  
  
"What about me?" she asked, feeling her cheeks warm also.  
  
"How do you feel- about kids?" He glanced at her and she had the queerest sense that he was silently laughing at her, by the expression on his face.  
  
"I like them well enough. They're small, and cute, and they haven't done me any harm recently. Quite frankly, I don't see any reason not to like them." She grinned back at him, then dropped the A-bomb of questions. "Why?"  
  
"No reason," he said shortly, his ears darkening. "Just wondering, making conversation."  
  
"Well, then I suppose we should be heading back; it's getting cold." Hermione turned, and began walking back to the castle, which she noticed was quite a ways away. About twenty steps later, she suddenly realized Ron was not walking with her, when he called out "You never answered my question!"  
  
She turned around, and raised her eyebrows at him. "What question?"  
  
"How do you feel about kids?" He paused, then, "For yourself."  
  
"I like them," she said, smiling, "Any kids I had might not be as cool as you Weasleys obviously were, but I like them."  
  
"Oh." Ron started walking towards her, his long strides easily covering what had taken her twenty-some steps in just over ten. "Shall we, then?" He held out his arm in a mock-gentlemanly gesture, but Hermione didn't notice. She was too busy being shocked. Her eyes widened and after a moment, Ron's did, too. "No! I didn't mean that I meant- should we- gosh, Hermione, you take everything wrong. I meant should we head back to the castle."  
  
"I knew what you meant, Ron, it's just-" And together they headed back to a warm common room, a large book, and what later seemed to be a promising game of Exploding Snap, with just a bit better of an understanding between the two friends, and yet another fight to brood over for the next week. 


End file.
